Life Won't Wait
by sweetkiwi604
Summary: Life; it didn't slow down in the least to let you breathe, let you remember, or let you plan your next move. And if you blinked, you would miss it. Alex/OC. One shot. Complete. Co-written with the amazing Jenmm31


**Okay readers this is my first ever Grey's fic but Jenmm31's second. (Shameless plug for her story** _ **No More Looking Back**_ **which you can find on her page and in my favorites) She so graciously approached me a little while ago about wanting to co-write and this is what came of it. I'm proud of it and had a great time writing with a great friend.**

 **Let us know what you think :)**

Life Won't Wait

Life; it didn't slow down in the least to let you breathe, let you remember, or let you plan your next move. And if you blinked, you would miss it.

It had been twenty three hours since Alex Karev was able to close his eyes for just a minute. He had thought his days of working countless hours were behind him because he was well past being an intern. In fact, he had interns that reported to _him_. Yet, here he was at seven in the morning, not needing his daily coffee with the adrenaline from the night before still pumping through his veins. It had been a night full of memories, heartache, and trauma. He hesitated in front of the hospital's main entrance, just about to leave. He stood in the exact same spot where he'd last seen her only an hour ago…the last time their eyes had met. He didn't want to move because it felt like he was leaving everything behind. The strange looks from people as they passed by didn't bother him in the slightest. He knew he had to walk through those doors, but something inside of him begged him not to. Leaving that spot meant leaving it all behind. Seeing no other option in sight, he sighed, he forced himself to slowly go outside. Walking out of the hospital felt like entering a different world, one where he had to accept or forget the past ten hours.

 **10 hours ago**

Alex stood at the desk in the emergency room waiting for a patient they had paged him about that was still two minutes out. He didn't know too much about the case, only that a kid had been in some kind of sports accident. April chatted away at him and his eyes scanned the room looking for a distraction. His gaze landed on a husband and wife in bed number three, completely grabbing his attention. From where he was standing, he could see the man was in for a broken wrist and busted face. He assumed it was from getting into some kind of fight and had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. But the woman standing next to the bed was where his eyes landed.

She wasn't anything over the top; her brown hair was pulled into a simple ponytail high on her head and she wore a red button down shirt that was tucked in to her black dress pants. It was the small scar over her left eye, though, that drew him in.

" _Would you stop," Alex pulled her hands away from her face to clean out the gash. "If you had waited like I told you to, this wouldn't have happened. What the hell is wrong with you?"_

 _She crossed her arms, refusing to look at him as he dabbed the wound with a cotton ball soaked in peroxide. "I would have been fine, asshole."_

" _I have enough shit to deal with. I don't have time to worry about you too."_

"Karev!" Owen Hunt's voice broke through. Alex slightly shook his head as he came back to reality, tucking his memory away in the back of his mind. He stared at the man, waiting for him to continue with whatever he was going to say. Owen turned to the emergency room, his voice loud enough so everyone could hear. "Listen up, there's a huge storm about to hit. Any non-critical patients need to be moved or discharged as soon as possible. All hands on deck, people!"

 **8 hours ago**

The kid with the sports injury was in stable condition and though Alex would have to keep an eye on him overnight, he found himself drawn back down to the emergency room.

"Oh, thank God." April more than willingly shoved three charts into his hands, cutting her cases in half. "We are swamped down here. Patient in bed two is waiting for an Ortho consult. Patient in-"

She abruptly stopped as he handed the charts back to her, ignoring everything she'd said. "What happened to the dude that was in bed three?"

April looked over to the bed he was talking about. "Uh, car ran off the road. He-"

"No, Kepner, the guy that was here earlier with the messed up face."

"Mr. Grant?" One of the interns butted in to their conversation. Alex shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what the man's name was, and gave the dude a look that demanded he continue. "They admitted him overnight for observation."

Alex was already walking toward the elevators before April even had the chance to beg him to take at least one patient. He wasn't sure where exactly he was going or why he felt it was so important, but he had a name and now all he needed was a room number. He had to prove to himself that it wasn't _her_. It couldn't be, not after all these years.

 _She stood in front of his house with the most heartbroken look he had ever seen. She refused to cry but he noticed how she kept blinking her eyes and biting her bottom lip to keep her emotions at bay._

" _The fuck do you mean you're leaving?!" she yelled. When he continued to pack up the car without even acknowledging her question, she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him so that he was standing straight in front of her. "You can't leave me here. You promised, Alex! You promised that it would be you and me against the world. I can't survive here without you!" The tears that she had so desperately held back slowly began to roll down her cheeks._

 _His face remained stoic, not letting himself feel or say anything, because if he paused, even for just a second, he would see her watery blue eyes staring back and him and he would begin to question his decision. So he brushed her hands away and got in the driver's seat without so much as a second glance in her direction before driving away. He could hear her screams and saw her drop to her knees in the middle of the road in the rearview mirror, the moon reflecting off of her hair as she buried her face in her hands. He almost turned around. He would have taken her in his arms and promised that everything would be okay like he had done so many times before, but he couldn't keep his promise by staying in this town. He had to get out and make something of himself, someone that would be able to give her everything she'd want. And he'd come back for her, he reassured himself. He'd be back for her when his life was in order. This wasn't going to be how things ended. He was doing it for her._

He had barely heard what Cristina said to him in passing as he made his way to room 407. Standing at the nurses' station, he saw her again and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that it could be anyone but her. Part of him wanted to march into that room and find out where the hell she had been for the last three years, but another part, the part that won out, was just happy to know that she had made it out of that horrid town.

He had kept his promise. After finishing his first year as an intern, he had taken a quick trip back home to get her. He had exactly forty eight hours off from the hospital and he spent every single minute in the car to make good on that promise. Going back to his hometown was as stressful as he expected it to be, but when he found out she was no longer there, pure anger set in. She had left. She had left him.

 **6 hours ago**

The weatherman actually got it right for once and the rain came down in torrential downpours. Thunder rolled in the distance and lightning flashed, brightening the darkened sky. More than half the city was flooded and without electric and if it weren't for the generators, the hospital wouldn't have been able to stay up and running. He hadn't been back to check on her for the past couple of hours, but once the power went out and generators kicked back on, he was all but running toward the room.

 _At ten years old, she should have known better than to be scared of thunderstorms, but at every crack of thunder, she would whimper and cover her ears, squeezing her eyes closed. Alex saw her sitting in the corner of the living room as far away from the windows as she could possibly get._

 _He was ready to shoot out some sarcastic comment, maybe scoff and roll his eyes, but instead he sat down next to her. She eyed him warily, clearly not expecting him to comfort her in anyway, and as another flash of lightning came, she buried her face in his shoulder, her small arms wrapping around his like a vine._

" _It's not going to hurt you," he spoke so softly that she knew he didn't want anyone else to hear him._

" _Promise?"_

 _He settled in for the rest of the storm and even offered her a half smile. "Promise."_

He found her sitting in the waiting room on the fourth floor that held no windows and when the faint sound of thunder was heard he could see her flinch. It wasn't enough to cause concern for anyone passing by, but he knew her better than she knew herself.

He meant to say something, her name, a greeting, _anything_. Yet, he couldn't get the words to pass his lips and before he knew what he was doing, his legs led him over to the waiting area and he sat down in the chair right next to her. She was so wrapped up in her fear that she didn't seem to notice until he muttered something.

"Excuse me?" She turned to him.

"Storms aren't going to hurt you," he repeated and the sudden realization of who she was sitting next to washed over her face. He wished he could have said it was relief, but he couldn't tell exactly what she was feeling seeing him after this many years.

"Alex."

"Hey, Erin."

She paused for a moment, fully taking in what she was seeing. After trying to picture him in a white coat and scrubs for all these years, it was all surreal. She had never expected him to look so…so… _good_. She shook her head, forcing her mind to come back to her new reality and away from ancient fantasies. She knew he was in Washington, but had she known he was in Seattle, maybe she would have made the effort to see him. Maybe. The wound of him leaving her and never coming back was still fresh after all these years and she almost hoped that they had picked a different hospital.

They stared at one another for a moment, neither knowing what to say. Then at the same time, they both blurted out the one question that had plagued them for years…

"Why didn't you come back for me?"

"Why didn't you wait for me?"

Their eyes locked as the weight of the other's question hit them. They sat in silence for a few moments while the shock slowly started to fade. Alex opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as April ran up to him.

"Alex, there you are!" she exclaimed between breaths.

"Not now, Kepner," he didn't want to leave Erin so soon, not when he had just gotten the moment he had been dreaming about since he'd realized she had abandoned him.

April glanced at the woman sitting next to him for a brief moment but didn't have the time to worry about who she was. "Dr. Hunt needs you. Now!"

His gaze bounced back and forth between the two girls, wanting to stay but needing to go. He cursed under his breath before he got up and went running down the hall behind April, but not before he threw one last glance back at Erin. And there was that half smile that he reserved just for her.

Her heart skipped a beat, ignoring the rolling thunder outside the hospital.

 **4 hours ago**

Hunt had pulled Alex to assist on an emergency surgery for one of his patients. He was extremely focused on the surgery, but his mind was elsewhere, unable to get her face and question out of his mind. He had spent all these years angry and hurt that she hadn't waited on him like they'd planned. He'd made sure to have his own apartment set up and everything before he went to get her.

 _Alex pulled up to the ever-familiar white, one story house at the end of the street. He leaned on the steering wheel, gazing out the windshield as he took it all in. Alex Karev had never been the outwardly, happy, smiling type, but this day, there was no holding it in. Everything was in place…he was finally earning a livable income, had an apartment, and a car that could make the almost two thousand mile and twenty-seven hour drive there and back. It was the most he had ever had and he did it all on his own. He'd wanted to call her so many times on his way there, but picturing the excitement and surprise on her face when he showed up kept him from doing so._

 _Eagerly getting out of the car, he jogged up to the front steps and knocked on the door. He hurriedly adjusted his pants and smoothed out his shirt, wanting to look just right when she opened up. After a few seconds and hearing no commotion, he knocked again…and again…and again, each time with more desperation._

 _He ran a hand threw his hair as he looked around. He had the right house, that he was sure of. He would never be able to forget it. Maybe she was at work or out running errands, he tried to convince himself. He went back down the steps and over to a side window, holding his hands and face up closely to look inside. His heart dropped into an unforgettable abyss when he realized there wasn't anything inside except a few scattered papers and dust…lots of dust._

 _Erin was gone._

"What do you think, Dr. Karev?" Owen asked, dragging Alex back to reality.

Suddenly realizing he had no idea what they'd been talking about, he muttered something inaudible before asking, "Are we done here? Because I have a patient I need to check on."

Owen looked at April for some kind of explanation for his strange behavior, but she just shrugged her shoulders. Alex was a mystery Owen was still trying to crack but today wasn't the day. "Uh, that's fine. Kepner can close," he replied, motioning with his head for him to leave.

"Thanks," he threw back and in no time he was already out the door, pulling off his gown and gloves to go search for her again.

 **2 hours ago**

Alex casually walked by the man's room and was disappointed to see that he was awake and involved in some lively conversation with Erin. There was an unfamiliar bubble of jealousy in his gut that it should have been him that she was with and he tried to suppress it. He walked back by again, standing out of sight as he tried to think of some excuse to draw her out of the room. He had to talk to her. He _had_ to know the truth.

But before he could come up with a reasonable plan, she suddenly walked out of the room, her hand on his chest, pushing him further down the hallway, away from her husband and his lingering eyes.

"Let's go somewhere private," she suggested as they continued down the hall, dropping her hand from him the second she was sure they were far enough away from her husband's room. "I know you want to talk but it can't be around him."

Alex wasn't really sure where there were going but he continued to lead her to the end, before opening the door to the stairwell, knowing hardly anybody used them anyone. As soon as the door closed behind them, Erin was unable to hold it back and blurted out, "I waited, Alex, I waited for you. _Six years_ I waited for you to come back!" Her eyes brimmed with tears.

He felt his chest tighten and his heart fall at seeing her so broken. "I came back for you," he whispered, cupping her face with his hands. "I came back just like I'd promised." He never would have broken a promise, not to her.

Erin's brow furrowed, her face full of confusion, as she stepped back from him. Her head shook furiously from side to side. "No, you couldn't have. I _waited_ , Alex! I waited every damn day by the front window praying to see you coming down the road. I waited six years and you never showed. You promised me!"

"And I came back!" Alex yelled, more frustrated with the situation than her actual words.

"When?"

"In June of 2004, right after I finished my internship."

She couldn't contain the tears any longer and a few ran down her cheeks at the sudden realization of what had happened. A sob left her lips, "Alex, I left town that May." He searched her eyes, pleading for more of an explanation. "I couldn't wait any longer. I…I didn't think you were going to come."

Before either had a chance to say anything else, a large lighting bolt tore through the sky, first illuminating the stairwell, before everything went dark as the generator hadn't kicked back on yet. Like a reflex, Erin found herself throwing her body against his, seeking refuge from the awful storm. Alex instinctively wrapped his arms safely around her, holding her close. The moment he'd dreamt of for so long and now he had her in his arms. And like nothing had changed, their lips found one another and locked in a deep, passionate kiss as her hands wrapped around his neck, falling deeper into the heartfelt caress.

"I've wanted this for so long," he whispered in her ear as he placed soft kisses along her neck before returning to her lips. He moved their bodies as one until she was pressed up against the wall and he leaned in closer, closing off any remaining distance between them.

Erin dug her fingernails into the back of his shoulders as his lips went back to her neck, searing his apology into her skin. A moan escaped as he nipped at her pulse point and his fingers started on the buttons of her blouse. They had come so far from being the town's troublemakers and now they could have it all…and have it together. His lips trailed from her neck, to her collar bone, and to the soft skin right between her breasts.

She wanted this as much as she had always imagined herself with him. Erin was just about to give in completely, have him take her right there in the stairwell as he should have so many times before, but another flash of lightning lit up the darkened area, reflecting off her wedding band.

She blinked heavily a few times, willing the words to form, knowing she had to stop it. "I can't…" she trailed off, pushing back on his shoulders a bit to get him to look at her. "You used to be my dream, you know that? I used to imagine us living in a town house with three kids. You the big shot doctor and me the stay at home mom. We were going to escape the stereotypes of our old town, be better than anyone ever expected."

"We still can," he went to kiss her again but she turned her head at the last second.

"Alex, I have two kids and a husband now." Alex pulled his head back, his confused eyes searching hers for any trace that this was just some awful trick.

 _Erin lay in the grass, staring up at the clouds as her head rested on Alex's back. He was filling out the paperwork to apply for colleges while she griped about one of their friends getting hitched._

" _I'm never getting married." Alex mumbled some response and she reached up to pinch his side, making him squirm. "You aren't even paying attention to me, are you?"_

" _Yeah, you aren't getting married."_

" _Think you ever will?"_

" _Why? To end up divorced with a bunch of kids that I can't take care of? No, thanks. I'll pass."_

 _She accepted his answer as she went back to watching the clouds above them. "Hey, Alex?" He hummed in the back of his throat so she knew he was listening and she took a deep breath. "Twenty years from now, when you're done with college and I have decided what I'm going to do with my pathetic life…we should get married. I mean if we haven't already found someone else that can put up with us that it is."_

 _Alex was silent and she feared that maybe she shouldn't have said anything, but then she realized he was signing the bottom of his application. "Sure."_

" _Really?"_

" _Promise."_

He wanted to be angry with her, scream that she had somehow broken their stupid promise, but then he remembered Izzy and without so much as a second glance in her direction, he left the stairwell. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving her all alone.

That was exactly one hour ago. While he had every intention of going back to talk to her again, something always stopped him from doing so. He had never made it within three rooms of hers. Now he stood on the upstairs walkway, arms resting on the railing as he stared down below. He watched as she went out of the entrance, pushing her husband's wheelchair. Like a natural instinct, she felt his gaze and turned around, looking all over to spot him. She found him and was relieved to see him staring back. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, and for those few seconds everything around them ceased to exist. Knowing her reality was waiting for her, she softly smiled, saying goodbye to him with one last small wave, before turning her attention back to her husband's conversation. Alex raised his hand to wave back, but it was too late. She'd already gone through the doors and out of his life. The heartache and emotion he'd felt all those years ago came crawling up again. Only difference was, this time he knew the goodbye was forever and there was no turning back.


End file.
